Donations to charity will be possible soon at more than 20 per cent of cash machines

08 May 2012
by Chloe Stothart

Royal Bank of Scotland's 8,000 ATMs and 4,000 owned by Bank Machine will allow people to make donations to charity from June

RBS cashpoint

More than 20 per cent of the UK’s cash machines will allow users to make donations to charity from this summer, the government announced today.

The 8,000 machines owned by Royal Bank of Scotland and the 4,000 owned by the cash machine operator Bank Machine will permit donations, said Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society.

Other cash machine operators will join the scheme later this year and in 2013. The Link network, which includes almost every cash machine in the UK including those owned by RBS and the Bank Machine, has 64,500 ATMs.

Bank Machine is selecting the charities that will benefit from donations given through its network of ATMs. RBS will select about eight charities in June, when the scheme will go live.

In a statement, Hurd said: "People in this country have always given generously to worthy causes. We want to make it easier for people to give small amounts to charity if they want to. By making it possible to add donations at cashpoints we can make an even greater difference to other people’s lives."

Melanie Knight, director of communications and resources at Bank Machine, said: "Bank Machine was the first ATM operator to announce its participation in the ATM Charity Giving scheme. We have received registrations of interest from more than 550 charities that wish to take part. We have asked an independent panel to decide which charities will participate as we want to ensure that as many worthy causes as possible are able to take part."